Musar su Levitico 25:42

Berachot 5a tells us in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai that G–d had given three precious gifts to Israel, but that the acquisition of each one of them involved painful experiences, יסורים. The three gifts referred to are: "Torah, the land of Israel, and the Hereafter, i.e. an ideal world on this earth." This statement is difficult in itself, since we perceive (at least halachically) that anyone who gives something away is motivated by a generous impulse, i.e. הנותן בעין יפה נותן. Why then should these gifts be attainable only through suffering? (Baba Batra 53a), This is not really a difficulty, since the very sufferings a person experiences refine his body and enable him to achieve closeness to G–d, דבקות השם. The type of יסורים experienced, are in the nature of making us appreciate the gift even more after we have endured the suffering leading up to it. The slavery of the Israelites in Egypt was such a prelude. Once having endured this bondage they would find the yoke of Torah so much easier to bear by comparison that they would welcome it as a gift. This is the reason the Torah is replete with statements such as אשר הוצאתיך מבית עבדים, "who has taken you out of the house of bondage."

It is no accident that when Abraham's descendants moved to Egypt they numbered seventy, i.e. a counterweight to the seventy nations of the world. There they became refined through their bondage to the Egyptians. When G–d took them out of there they had been prepared to exchange bondage to the Egyptians for becoming servants of the Lord, as G–d says: כי עבדי הם, "For they are My servants" (Leviticus 25,42). G–d instilled in the Israelites the feeling that they were slaves so as to make the transition to becoming G–d's servants easier for them. This is also what G–d had in mind in the first of the Ten Commandments which states: "I am the Lord your G–d who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage," i.e. in order to become My servants.